Art galleries, museums and theatres

You can still enjoy visiting cultural and heritage destinations if you are blind or partially sighted.

A number of museums and galleries provide specialist accessible tours to people with sight loss, while audio description can help bring theatre alive.

Visiting art galleries and museums

Museums and art galleries across the UK provide tours and other specialist accessibility services to people with sight loss. As well as information and guides in alternative formats and audio described tours, some venues offer tactile experiences.

More information on visiting museums and galleries can be found in our Confident living - Leisure leaflet:

Visiting the theatre

If you have sight loss, visiting the theatre can be enhanced dramatically by watching an audio described performance. Audio description (AD) brings alive what is happening on stage, discreetly describing the action, scenery, facial expressions and costumes of the actors.

Venues also often offer pre-performance notes and touch tours, so you have an idea of what the stage is like before the performance begins. Sometimes you can also meet the actors.

Organisations like VocalEyes and Mind’s Eye provide information on available audio described performances nationwide. Individual theatres and production companies also provide more information on accessible performances, for example: